Dear Tom, For the past several years I have noticed a lot of things coming up after rain and think you are probably on to something. I have thought of it as a trigger for some species. Most of my seedlings from last year have been watered several times and there were only a few showing signs of life. I was wondering if maybe they had not survived their first dormancy. After our first good rain Wednesday night I counted quite a few that were up and more every day since then so obviously I just need to be patient. I am way behind you in seed germination. My first seeds just started coming up over the weekend. Most are in my greenhouse so weren't rained on. Maybe it was just time for them to come up. But I expect the weather was a factor. Mary Sue